With rapid development of Internet technology, Instant Messaging (IM) tools have been accepted by most netizens. At present, the IM tools have been one of indispensable tools on desktops, and are widely used in both daily entertainment and working. The IM tools are developing to not only provide an instant messaging service, but also provide more and more additional services such as communication and entertainment services. For example, an IM tool may not only support delivery of various facial expression information, images and files, but also support voice chatting, video chatting, interactive music-listening, and online games. These additional services enable an TM user to communicate and enjoy entertainment interactively with other IM users, e.g. his/her IM friends, when chatting using an TM tool.
An IM user may hope to know whether an IM friend subscribes to a different additional service when performing instant messaging with the IM friend, so as to differentiate IM friends subscribing to an additional service from ordinary IM friends (i.e. TM friends that do not subscribe to any additional service), or to differentiate between IM friends subscribing to different additional services, that is, to differentiate IM friends according to addition services. Thereby, an interaction with the IM friends by using the additional services is facilitated. An IM friend is also an IM user at a client other than the local IM client, and may perform an IM service interaction with the local IM user through the IM client of the IM friend and the local IM client. An IM user usually has multiple IM friends, and each IM friend is identified by a unique IM user name. When the IM user logs on the local IM client, the local IM client will present user names of the IM friends on a user interface to be used by the local IM user.
In a current IM tool, a function of supporting at least one additional service may be configured in an IM client. When started, the IM client may query whether IM friends subscribe to one of the at least one additional service one by one, and if an IM friend subscribes to one of the at least one additional service, the IM client may add a mark indicating the additional service subscribed by the IM friend on a local IM user interface.
When the system provides a new additional service, the IM client should be modified accordingly to support the new additional service so that the IM client can query whether an IM friend subscribes to the new additional service. However, this operation increases workload of development and maintenance persons and requires a user to re-install the IM client, which is inconvenient in practice, thus lacks extensibility and costs a lot for extending.